Memes and GIFs make conversations more engaging and lively. A decade back, an editor in the gang usually masked people’s photos with that of celebrities. Fast forward ten years, and there’s an app that lets users swap faces with stars and superheroes in just a few taps. The massive growth of technology, in particular, Artificial Intelligence, has made this a possibility. 

One such smartphone application that has taken the online world by storm right from its inception is the Ukrainian-based startup, Reface. Formerly known as the Doublicat, the app has been trending everywhere, both on Google and Apple stores. With over 70 million downloads, this app launched in January has already lured a massive number of investors. 

In an exciting turn of events, Reface has raised $5.5 million seed funding from some of the prominent names in the celebrity industry. So what makes platforms like Reface inevitable? How does AI help these platforms aid in face swaps effortlessly? What are the features to include while developing and launching an AI Face swap app? How much does it cost to build an app like Reface? 

Are you an entrepreneur who needs answers to the questions? If so, this blog provides you quality insights and an overview that can help you eliminate hurdles during the Reface like AI Face swap app development. 

Reface And Its Rise to Prominence 

If you’re following celebrities like Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus on social media, you would have inevitably come across the app Reface. Launched in January 2020 with the unified business functioning from the US, Reface, priorly known as Doublicat, has garnered the ‘top 5’ leading app status in more than 100 countries. In addition, the app is also in contention to bag the ‘top app’ award in the annual Google Play Best of the year. The platform that had 20 million users in August 2020 has risen massively to a record-high download rate of 67 million. 

The ideology behind Reface is to leverage AI-powered Deepfake technology to perform the facial replacement. The app captures users’ facial expressions and movements by requesting them to upload high-definition selfies. With efficient editing tools, the platform combines images with pre-existing footage. The platform currently makes money from subscriptions, enabling customers to access a wide range of tools. Besides, the startup plans to enhance its income by introducing in-app purchases and making strategic brand partnerships. 

Catching The Investor’s Eye – Film/Content Creation, Gaming, and The Tech World 

Following such massive growth in numbers in terms of app downloads and ratings, investors have paraded towards the platform. Early funding from an angel investor, Sergey Tokarev, laid the foundation for an app in January. Recently, the most popular Venture Capital Firm, Andreessen Horowitz, leads the seed funding investment with $5.5 million. 

Other prominent investors of the platform include Scooter Braun (the manager of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande) and Adam Leber (the manager of Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus). 

Even angel investors from the gaming industry, like the CEO of Supercell, Ilkka Pananen, and the founder of Unity Technologies, David Helgason, have joined the round of investments. Apart from the gaming and movie industry, tech investors like Josh Elman and Sriram Krishnan have shown a profound interest in this AI-based Face swap app. 

The Workflow of Reface – A Quick Overview 

As a marketing stunt, Reface provides a 3-day free trial option. The app is available for download from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store for Android & iOS users. Here’s how the platform works, 

• Initially, users register with the platform or log in via social media handles. 
• The platform requests users to upload their selfies by taking a picture. 
• The platform scans the image and enables users to choose the type of video where the face needs to be swapped. 
• The platform also provides a ‘Featured Today’ functionality, wherein popular videos of the day are presented in a nutshell, making users’ preferences easy and straightforward. 
• The platform enables users to upload their clips/GIFs upon an upgrade. 
• Once the GIF/video is ready, users can share them across different social media handles of their choice. 

Developing An App Like Reface 

You may be wondering if there are entrepreneurs who wish to recreate a face swap app like Reface. Well, the primary human intention is to look out for alternatives. Be it Lyft, Ola competing with Uber, or DoorDash competing with UberEats, an alternative with a better approach is bound to create an impact and succeed. So, entrepreneurs venturing into the development of apps like Reface can do so either by strolling the old-school way of building an app from the ground up or bypass the entire app development stages by opting for readymade clone apps. 

Astounding Features To Create An Instant Impact 

In either app development mode, you need to integrate the right set of features to scale your app big time. 

• Face Editor: After face recognition, it is ideal to scan the captured image and enable editing options like crop, retake, rotate, etc. This way, users can provide the best images. 
• Discover: The ‘discover’ tab or the ‘home screen’ tab enables users to access popular and featured videos of the day. 
• Personalized suggestions: Upon uploading images suggest users with some popular videos based on their previous searches or videos. This touch of personalization can go a long way in enhancing engagement rates. 
• Social sharing: Enable users to share their videos across different social media handles. This way, the platform’s visibility goes through the ceiling as well. 
• Download/delete videos: Let users download their favorite videos to their phone storage or delete them if need be. 
• Advanced search bar: Users can search for popular clips and can use filter options to sort out videos based on language, popularity, etc. 
• Upload: Users can upload their own video clips or GIFs in case the video they intend to find isn’t available in the app feed. 

The Cost Involved In Developing The App 

At Appdupe, our well-equipped team of technical experts has toiled hard in infusing the latest technological advancements with a user-friendly app architecture. Our world-class Reface clone has the capability and the necessary firepower to gain instant traction among the audience. 

However, one cannot quote a fixed price for app development because they vary with the entrepreneur’s business needs. Some crucial parameters invariably impact the total cost. These constraints include, 

• The number of platforms: Your total budget increases as the number of platforms you wish to launch the platform increases. While it is wise to introduce your app across the Android & iOS platforms, having a web app comes in handy as well. 
• Features of integration: While features play an important role in engaging the audience, they add to the total expenditure in app development. As a result, the higher the number of features, the greater goes your app development cost. 
• Complexity in design: You need a team of skilled graphic designing experts to make your UI/UX understandable, efficient, and user-friendly. A simple and informative design with extensive working on wireframes and prototypes adds to the total cost. 

Security And Privacy Concern – The Ultimate Spotlight 

While almost any app development company can recreate an app like Reface, it is paramount to ensure the utmost security and privacy throughout the ecosystem. Here are some tips to ensure privacy and gain the trust of consumers. 

• Initially, make a clear & concise note on your privacy policy that you collect only the facial data from users. 
• Also, ensure that the platform does not entertain the usage of images for any other purpose. 
• Have an auto-delete functionality, wherein the image gets erased after 24 hours. 
• In addition, ensure that your servers refresh after a cycle, usually 30 days, leading to the deletion of images automatically. 

Taking care of the platform’s security and privacy is vital in building a positive brand value and growing a massive network. 

Conclusion 

Technology, especially Machine Learning, is making it easier for users to swap faces and provide a seamless experience. The massive reception of Reface is just an initiation and a sign that people expect more from these technological advancements in the future. Capitalize on this trend by developing an app like Reface right away. In the view of helping entrepreneurs foray into the sector in no time, we at Appdupe have come up with our ultra-modern clone app solutions. Reach out to us and emerge as the next big thing at once!